Box Score SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 9 Omaha hockey team won its first ever NCAA playoff game, beating No. 8/10 Harvard, 4-1 on Saturday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena on the campus of Notre Dame.

The Mavericks advance to the regional final against RIT on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. CT.  The game will air on ESPNU.  The winner will move on to the 2015 Frozen Four in Boston in two weeks.

UNO, the youngest team in the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship, got three of its four goals from freshman to defeat Harvard, the ECAC playoff champion and the No. 3 seed in the regional.  The Mavericks are now 19-12-6 this season.

The Mavericks opened the scoring at 1:59 of the first period.  Avery Peterson's long shot was stopped by Harvard goalie Steve Michalek, but the rebound sat loose in the crease.  Grant Gallo jammed it home for his third goal of the year and second in as many games.

Peterson doubled the Mavericks' lead in the waning seconds of the period.  During a 5-on-3 power play, Jake Randolph fed the puck across the slot to Peterson who rifled a shot to the top corner for his first goal since Jan. 30, a span of 11 games.

After a scoreless second period, Harvard's Jimmy Vesey, the nation's leading goal scorer, gathered in a rebound and fired a shot past a diving Ryan Massa at 3:09.  It was his 32nd goal of the year.

But UNO got an empty net powerplay goal from Tyler Vesel at 19:24 and another empty netter from Jake Guentzel 32 seconds later to seal the win.

Massa finished with 33 saves for his career-best 13th win of the year.  He was at his best in the third period when he made 18 saves as the Mavericks were outshot 19-6.

Brian Cooper, Ian Brady and Vesel each finished the game with four blocks as the Mavericks totaled 16 for the game.  Vesel leads all NCAA forwards with 60 blocks.